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Ederine Day 2: 5/14/08
I met the father of my host family, Ismet Acikoz, first thing this morning. He was held up in customs last night when coming home from Greece. I met the wives of the Rotarians in the newer part of town. Much to my surprise my host mother didn’t join us for breakfast. (This was very different from my first host family because they were with me all day every day ) My day started with breakfast in the woods at a small café. We had the norm… cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, salami, a boiled egg, and tea.
From there we leisurely worked our way over to the Selimiye Mosque to have coffee. After we finished drinking coffee, we went inside the Mosque. Before entering the Mosque you must take your shoes off and women must have their head covered with a scarf. Inside the Mosque was really nice. It was a huge room where people can pray. Typically men are on the main floor and the women are upstairs in the balcony. They are separate because to them it is important that there aren’t any distractions when praying or reading the Karan. There was a fountain with
water from a holy land in the center of the mosque. People can drink this water. This specific mosque is built on land from a woman that had a tulip farm. In the old days the king wanted her farm land to build the mosque. She turned down a lot of money and said that she wanted to keep her tulips. A few years later she agreed to give up the land and her tulips. There was a lot of tension about this exchange. There are upside down tulips on the columns around the center fountain. These tulips can also be hanging throughout the main road (in Christmas lights).
There is a small bazaar outside the Mosque, so we looked around a little but didn’t buy anything because not everybody had Turkish lira (money). Lunch was at a local restaurant … I ate meatballs again. This time they were more like the meatballs from home except they had a white gravy.
Some where in our busy day, between tea and coffee, we saw a Grease Wrestling demonstration. Annually this is a big festival that happens in June, but today they put on a special show for us. The
2 cultures
I thought this picture was interesting because you can see the traditional Turkish dress and us walking on the same sidewalk men wear leather pants, cover themselves with oil, and wrestle. The matches can last as long as 2 hours. I know you’re wondering how they hold on to each other, well I will tell you that they stick their hand down the side of their opponent’s pants to flip the other over. It was neat to watch.
Grease Wrestling was followed by a tour of the Health Museum. This was the first hospital in Turkey. Not only was it a hospital, but it was also a medical school. One of the most interesting rooms showed a snake biting a rooster. The explanation was that a man took a chicken, plucked its feathers, made the snake bite it 3 times and then injected it with venom. The chicken made a complete recovery.
The highlight of my day was watching a man do Ebru (Turkish Marble painting). This is was the process used by the art teacher in Corlu. Brown water was in a pan. The man put some oil based paint in the pan and it floated on top of the water. He swirled it and then added more paint to make a design. A piece of paper was laid
on the water and then lifted up making a print. Newspaper was then used to clean the surface of the water. I was glad that we were able to see such an interesting art form.
All of the families ate Turkish BBQ for dinner tonight. I think this as the first time I’ve eaten grilled chicken since I’ve been here. Our hosts gave us little brooms that have a mirror in the middle and an evil eye on it. They story is that before you are married you have a big broom and then when you are married you use a little broom and look in the mirror. I’m not sure about this, so I will do more research on it. It is a tradition in Edirne. We were also given some fruit made of soap. This is also famous from this area. It smells good and looks like artificial fruit.
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Heather
non-member comment
cracking up
Okay, first I know that Ronnie would be cracking up about the grease wrestling. I'm glad you included pictures. I was imagining they were really big guys like Sumo wrestlers. Luckily you got something other than meatballs for dinner. You are going to be ready for some crawfish or a steak with Ronnie. I bet it was so neat to wear the scarf and go into the Mosque. I think I would have been a little nervous at first. The blog is great. I feel like I am there with you and I love the pictures. Keep having fun. We miss you, but continue to enjoy your trip. Like you said, you will probably never see these people again. Enjoy them and all the culture. Love ya!